Maple Grove targets office/industrial for mining area

The Maple Grove City Council received news that the city received state legislative approval for a tax increment financing district in the Gravel Mining Area.

The council also heard about the results from a Community Health Assessment conducted by Maple Grove Hospital.

Here are some of the May 5 meeting highlights.

Legislative Approval

City Administrator Al Madsen said that after three legislative sessions, the city received some success in the tax increment financing (TIF) district for the Gravel Mining Area’s 13 acres.

“Now the job begins to try and layout the structure,” he said. “It will be aimed at office and industrial.”

Mayor Mark Steffenson said the news was very exciting. “The TIF plan we have been working on for five or six years for the Gravel Mining Area finally got passed that allows us to do what as a city we need to do. This should be exciting and should lead to additional larger commercial and industrial developments in the gravel pits in years to come.”

Community Health Assessment

The council also heard from Maple Grove Hospital Community Outreach Manager Marie Maslowski regarding a recently conducted Community Health Assessment.

“We conducted this assessment for a couple of reasons,” Maslowski said. “We want to understand the health needs of the community we serve. We want to build partnerships with community members and community organizations to address the needs we have identified. We ultimately want to improve the health of our community.”

A steering committee made up of business owners, clinicians, Wayzata and Osseo School District representatives, police chief, nutritionist and more.

The process had the committee come together last February, with data gathered that April. Last September the committee then looked at the results and identified the top health properties. The Maple Grove Hospital Board of directors received and approved the report.

The assessment was conducted in four zip codes — 55311, 55369, 55445 and 55446. The cities of Maple Grove, Osseo, parts of Brooklyn Park and Plymouth were included and analysis was done.

A summary of the assessment findings included four top priorities. Maslowski said they were: mental health/behavioral health, wellness education and prevention, injury prevent and asthma.

On mental health, a one-day training was proposed to help people out in the community. “This will give people the skills to address people in the community and help direct to the right mental health partnerships,” she said.

Maple Grove Hospital also partners with Partnership for Change out of North Memorial. This a group that works to address drug and alcohol use among youth.

In the wellness education portion, Maslowski said there were a lot of people that wanted to address obesity, learn to eat healthy, learn to balance lifestyle and prevention of cancer. “The number program listed is active living everyday and healthy eating everyday,” she added. “This is an evidence-based program that comes out of the Cooper Center in Dallas, Texas. It is a behavior modification program.”

As for injury prevent, she said the hospital does “Be active, be healthy, be safe” program and Safety Fair and Bike Rodeo event. The programs teach kids safety and injury prevention before school ends.

In the last category of asthma, a school nurse from each the Osseo and Wayzata school districts were brought in as well as a daycare provider and pediatric specialist. “We are looking at asthma and what we can do out in the community, both with education for school nurses, but education with parents,” Maslowski said.

She added this would be a three-year initiative.

Mayor Steffenson thanked her for the presentation. “I have participated and I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s very interesting. I look forward to your continued involvement also in the community.”

OTHER

In other action, the council:

APPROVED the off-sale liquor license for Cost Plus World Market, 12209 Elm Creek Blvd., subject to compliance with liquor licensing requirements. The license will expire on June 30.

AUTHORIZED staff to begin the recruitment process for a police sergeant position in the Police Department due to the retirement of Jeff Garland, which was accepted with an effective date of May 29. Garland has served the city for 25 years.

APPROVED the hiring of Markus Yager to the position of appraiser at an annual salary of $62,320 effective June 2, subject to 12-month probationary period.